‘We stop here!’ Philippe called back, preventing any response she could have thought to give, not that any clear thought existed above the racing of her pulse.
She tugged her eyes from Freddie to see Philippe waving to a section of beach that encapsulated all she had come to love about the island. The luscious greenery sprouting between the granite boulders, the perfect white sand disappearing into the vibrant turquoise sea. Stunning didn’t even come close.
‘Now I’ll show you something really special,’ Philippe said as they tugged their kayaks up the beach and straightened.
Philippe’s grin was wide, his deep brown eyes sparkling against his bronzed skin as he slung a bag across his back and turned away. He was heading back inland, into a dense stretch of rainforest that she and Freddie had only skirted around on their bikes the day before. It hadn’t looked passable with its steep incline and the low-growing plants at the base of the palms. Was he taking them on a hike? In the midday sun?
At least with the bikes they had generated a refreshing breeze to keep their skin dry. After being in the sea and on the kayaks her salt-caked skin felt more in need of a shower than a hike.
‘Come. Come.’ He gestured and Freddie overtook her, grabbing her hand as he went and shooting sparks of delight right through her.
‘Slowcoach.’
‘I’m coming,’ she returned, a smile teasing at her lips as she shook her head at the back of his.
Yes, Freddie was all man now, but over the last three days, the excitement, the spark of his youth had started to return. The same carefree spark he’d possessed before their relationship had evolved and his parents had learned of it...
Less of the past, Jas! She shoved away the melancholy descending with the thought. Remember you’re living for the now.
She raced after him, struggling as her feet sank into the sand.
‘We’ll lose him if we’re not careful,’ Freddie murmured as Philippe disappeared into the thick vegetation.
‘I seriously hope we’re not hiking.’
‘Don’t worry, it’s not far,’ came Philippe’s disembodied voice. ‘It’s just along this trail.’
Freddie shoved the low-hanging fronds from a palm aside to pull her through and Jasmine frowned at the sight ahead.
What trail?
All she could see were plants, new growth mixing with old as the fallen palm fronds lay dry and crisp along the ground, colour sprouting up in between.
‘Come. Come.’ Philippe called again, clambering up the sharp incline straight ahead, most of his body disappearing into the trees, and that was when she heard it, the sound of rushing water.
They hurried after him, the excited trill of the wild birds building with the rush of the water.
‘Et voilà!’ Philippe declared, his arms outstretched in a clearing that took her breath away.
She stilled, Freddie too.
‘Wow.’ She stared, open-mouthed. It looked like a mirage. A tiny oasis dominated by the palms all around, cut off from the world as the waterfall above their heads fed a small blue lagoon. It was like seeing paradise for the first time all over again. ‘I hadn’t expected this.’
‘You and me both,’ Freddie said, squeezing her hand, his one-sided smile just as awestruck.
‘You like?’ Philippe asked, turning to beam at them.
‘Very much so,’ she said.
‘You can swim here, the water is a little cold, but fresh and good. Deep too, so be careful.’ He dumped the bag he’d been carrying on the rock beneath his feet. ‘There are refreshments and towels in the bag, and I will go get a coconut.’
He was already off, traipsing back into the forest.
She smiled at Freddie. ‘Do you think he’s literally going to pick a coconut?’
‘I’d say so.’
She shook her head, looking from him to the vision before them, and felt the slick layer of sweat and salt on her skin. It was cooler here, the shade from the towering palms protecting them from the sweltering midday sun, but the water...it looked so inviting. And necessary.
Freddie was already stripping off his rash guard. ‘Last one in’s a rotten egg!’
‘How old are...?’ Her chastisement died on her lips as she lost herself in the ripple of his exposed abs, his pecs, his wide grin... She cleared her throat. ‘Do I need to remind you we’re not five any more?’
‘And?’
She laughed.
‘Are you sure it’s safe in there? What if there’s some river snake or...or...’ She waved her hand about her helplessly, but his grin didn’t waver.
‘Philippe would have warned us. Come on, aren’t you hot? Or are you chicken? A very hot chicken.’
She laughed more. ‘I’m not chicken. Hot or otherwise!’
He lifted his brows at her, fisted his hands on his hips, drawing her eyes lower, and she gulped. ‘I’m not... I’m just...cautious.’
‘You look like you could do with a dip just as much as me.’
His eyes travelled over her, and her skin prickled beneath the layer of sweat that had her rash guard clinging ever more to her skin. But it wasn’t the sun working its fiery magic, it was all Freddie and those eyes that seemed to tease and ignite in one.
‘Don’t worry, I’ve got you, Red.’
His voice and his words snagged at her heart and she bit into her lip.
‘You nervous?’
‘Why?’
‘You’re biting your lip.’ He shrugged. ‘It was always one of your things. That and chewing the corner of your mouth whenever you were nervous. Nervous or...’
He let the rest hang in the air unsaid and her heart bloomed along with the warmth building inside. Was there anything he didn’t remember about her? And if he remembered so much, surely that meant something, that she still meant something, or at least she could still mean something if he let her.
And now she was thinking in riddles.
‘I’m a little nervous.’ Not of the water and what might lurk beneath the rocks any more, but of him and the way her heart was beating out of her control.
‘Come on, Red, live a little.’
She was living a whole lot and that was the problem.
She nodded, not trusting her voice as she peeled her top over her head and tossed it to the ground beside his. Her hair clung to her neck and she shook it out before dipping to remove her shorts and adding them to the pile. Freddie hadn’t moved an inch.
She sent him a look from beneath her lashes as she straightened and tiptoed to the water’s edge, passing him by.
‘Are you letting me win?’ she said over her shoulder, and caught the way his heated gaze raked over her bikini-clad body, leaving her effectively stripped bare, her skin sensitised and eager for his touch.
‘You’ll forgive me if watching you strip distracted me somewhat.’
She shook her head, a smile teasing at her lips as she tried to brush off his compliment as a flippant remark, nothing more.
‘Are you still a sore loser, Freddie?’ She didn’t wait for his response. Burying her worries for her heart, her sanity and what lay beneath the water, she jumped...and mentally cursed. It was cold.
But it was just what she needed, in more ways than one.
Breaking the surface, she let out a whoop, kicking her legs to tread water. She cleared her eyes, swept her hair back from her face and turned to see him still standing on the rocks.
‘What was it you said—“I’ve got you, Red”?’ she called out, grinning.
‘Always.’
And with that he took a running leap, breaking the water a metre away and showering her as his promise hit home. Always. She kicked harder, told herself to quit it. But how could he say it and not really mean it?
And you shouldn’t want—no, need—him to mean it!
‘You did that o
n purpose!’ she scolded when his head surfaced.
He turned to her, flicking his hair back off his forehead as he made for her.
‘What?’ His eyes danced, his closing proximity making her pulse race.
‘Showering me with water!’
And making my heart swell with love for you.
She swallowed back the realisation.
Love.
Was she in love with him? Her face seemed to prickle with pins and needles, the warmth draining from it, and she forced a smile, needing to mask it as he got closer and closer.
No, it couldn’t be. Not again. Not so soon. Falling, yes, not fallen.
He grinned. ‘But you’re already wet.’
She gulped at the naughty gleam in his eye, the double entendre very much intended, and she shoved water at him, backing away.
‘And there I was thinking you’re all grown up with your successful business, your charity...’ She glared at him, trying to be playful and ignore the panicked beating of her heart. ‘But really you’re still a child.’
‘I hope not.’
‘You hope not?’
‘Else I’d be worried about the nature of my thoughts right this second.’
She shook her head, her laugh heady in spite of the undercurrent within her. She swam back faster... The chase was always fun, wasn’t it?
‘You know you can’t outswim me.’
‘Wanna bet?’
Excitement bubbled up inside her and she let it, let herself feel like the teen she’d once been when he’d first looked at her like that.
‘One delicious coconut!’
They quit their speedy strokes, their attention shifting to the rocks where Philippe now stood with said coconut held above his head. ‘I’ll leave it here for you and return in an hour or so. Would you like me to prepare it?’
‘I reckon we can manage.’
She looked at Freddie in surprise and he shrugged. ‘It can’t be that hard surely?’
‘Okay.’
Though she got the impression it had more to do with Freddie wanting them to be alone sooner than it did with his skill at preparing a coconut.
And she shouldn’t be so dizzyingly excited by it.
She really shouldn’t.
* * *
‘You can crack a coconut?’
Jasmine waited until Philippe had left to ask the question and Freddie got the distinct impression it was a distraction technique. A way to question his ability while avoiding the heat fizzing between them and it made him grin all the more because he knew she felt it. He could see it in the way her eyes blazed, the way the colour crept into her cheeks, and he exulted that she was as powerless to stop it as he was.
He closed the distance between them. ‘Yes.’
‘Really?’ Her eyes laughed at him, the water beading on her dark lashes making them all the more captivating as she backed away.
‘Yes.’ Another stroke forward. ‘I’ve done it before.’
She nodded. ‘Yeah, right, in between business meetings Stateside, you enjoy cracking open a coconut.’
‘No, in fact, I—’ He broke off as he realised what he’d been about to say.
‘You?’ She stilled, her brows nudging skywards, a smile dancing around her lips, and he wanted her smile to stay. That was why he didn’t want to admit what he’d been about to.
‘Nothing.’
‘Come on, Freddie, just say it.’
He looked away, guilt weighing heavily in his gut. But he had no reason to feel guilty, they hadn’t been together in for ever, and...well, time moved on.
Not so much your heart, though.
He ignored the inner gibe and clung to the sense that told him it was nothing for Jasmine to get upset over and in turn nothing for him to worry over either. And his heart had no place in this anyway.
‘We sailed around the Caribbean for Dad’s sixtieth, plenty of time for coconut hacking.’
‘I see...’ She frowned, the water rippling around her as she trod water. ‘So why the hesitation?’
‘I didn’t want to dampen the moment by mentioning them.’
‘Look, Freddie, they are your mum and dad, it’s okay to talk about them. They only ever had your best interests at heart.’
He scoffed. ‘I think it was more the case they had their own interests at heart.’
She shook her head. ‘Seriously, Freddie, we were young back then, too young! Even you must see that now, with hindsight?’
Did he? Too young for marriage, perhaps. But surely it should have been their own decision to make, their own mistake to rectify.
‘So, the Caribbean?’ He knew she was trying to change the subject, clear the sudden cloud. ‘Sounds lovely.’
‘It was.’
Her frown returned. ‘But?’
‘But?’
‘You don’t look like it was lovely. In fact, you’re acting kind of awkward still...’
‘We were there with the Darlingtons.’ His words came out with his breath, feeling very much like a confession.
Now she really frowned. ‘The Darlingtons?’
‘You know, Lord and Lady Darlington? Distant relations to the royal family, Darlingtons?’
‘Oh, those Darlingtons. Don’t they have a daughter about our...?’ Her voice trailed off.
He saw the moment realisation hit, saw it in the way she looked away and the invisible cord that had been pulling them together in the water snapped.
‘Is she the one your parents have in mind for you?’
He nodded, his jaw tense as he wished away this conversation entirely.
‘Lady Sara Palmer-Darlington.’ She nodded over her name. ‘She’s very beautiful. Isn’t she the face of the designer Danielle? Not to mention her charity efforts and connections. Your parents must be beside themselves at the match.’
Her voice was strained and he wanted to reach for her, even though she was the one that had pushed them into this conversation.
He attempted a shrug. ‘They can’t seem to help themselves.’
‘And you, can you help yourself, Freddie?’ It blurted out of her and she bit her lip, the colour gone from her face, her eyes spiking with tears, and he cursed the whole situation, the way it made her feel, the way it made him feel. Guilty, and unreasonably so.
She turned and swam away and he followed, anger firing in his blood. ‘There was a time when you told me I should listen to them, that they were right. Now you’re, what? Telling me to fight back, to tell them that we live in an age where social status no longer matters when it comes to marriage and that I should be free to choose my own way?’
He sensed her flinch rather than saw it and knew he’d hit his mark.
‘Shame you didn’t feel that way ten years ago, Red.’
She stilled before the waterfall, her feet finding the rocky bottom at the edge of the lagoon, and she stepped forward, raising her head to the assault of the water.
And he hated it. He hated that she was shutting herself off from him. He hated that the past kept coming between them. He hated that he couldn’t simply reach out and pull her into his arms, reassure her that she was the only woman he’d ever wanted to marry.
And why? Why tell her all that? She didn’t deserve to hear those assurances from his lips. She was the one that had left, that had given up on them.
He stood behind her, his hands fisted at his sides.
‘I was a child then.’
Her voice was a whisper disappearing in the rush of the water, but he heard it.
‘You weren’t a child. We were eighteen. We were—’
‘We were too young for you to turn your back on your family.’
He shook his head, even though she couldn’t see him. ‘For all you say you left because they didn’t approve, because they thought w
e were too young, it seems to me that you thought it too. It was you who left because deep down you agreed.’
She didn’t even react and he pressed on, unable to stop.
‘They would have come round eventually, Jas, they wouldn’t have had a choice. I wouldn’t have given them one.’
‘And by then you would have been a changed man.’
‘What do you mean?’
She spun into him, her head shaking as she gazed up at him imploringly. ‘It doesn’t matter. Just leave it, I shouldn’t have—I didn’t—’
‘I want to know what you mean.’ He was chilled to the bone and he wasn’t letting this go. Not now.
Her eyes trembled as she stared at him, quiet, and then, ‘You were already changing, don’t you see? There were times when I’d catch you looking so anxious, so worried about us and the future, and the more your parents pushed back, the more determined you were. But...but...’
She waved a shaky hand up and down his chest, her eyes lowering. ‘It was tearing you apart, it was destroying you, taking away your happiness, the light in your eyes, the easy humour, the joy.’
‘I was worried about the future, yes. I was worried about providing for us while still pursuing my degree if the worst happened and my family cut us off completely. I was worried you would be forced to give up your studies, your dreams. So, yes, Jas, I was worried, but—’
‘Can’t you see I didn’t want that for you?’ she interjected, her voice shaking with sincerity as tears joined the water already running down her face and he couldn’t breathe for the pain of seeing hers. ‘I’d see the worry in your face, and I’d try to tell myself it didn’t matter, that as long as we loved one another we could get through it.’
‘And we would have,’ he blurted, his own hurt making his words harsh, ‘if you’d only given us a chance.’
‘But at what cost?’
She looked so fragile and pale before him now, her head tilted back, her hair dark with the water running through it.
‘A cost I would have been willing to pay, Red.’
Her nose flared with her breath, her lashes fluttered. ‘I wasn’t.’
He stared at her, words failing him, movement too.
‘Mum and me...’ She took a deeper breath, her shoulders rolling back as she mustered her strength. ‘There had always been just Mum and me, you know that. But you, you had a family, you were surrounded by love. I couldn’t ask you to walk away from that and risk damaging you for ever.’
Surprise Reunion with His Cinderella Page 10